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Multi-Party Political Systems and Stress of Modernisation

The Economist Intelligence Unit's Political Instability Index shows that the threat posed to the Singapore government by social protest has increased. The index scores were derived by combining measures of economic distress and underlying vulnerability to unrest. The index covers the period 2009/10, and scores are compared with results for 2007.

Singapore's risk has increased from 'low' to 'moderate' and Asian coutries like India, Vietnam, Taiwan and Hong Kong and Japan are deemed to be of lower risk of social unrest than Singapore.

With the exception of Vietnam, the other Asian countries which are deemed to be at lower risk of social unrest when compared to Singapore, all employ the multi-party political system.

Samuel Huntington the American political scientist and the author of the book, "Clash of Civilizations", argues that as societies modernize, they become more complex and disordered. If the process of social modernization that produces this disorder is not matched by a process of political and institutional modernization; a process which produces political institutions capable of managing the stress of modernisation, the result may be violence.

Alexis-Charles-Henri Clerel de Tocqueville a 19th century French political thinker and historian observed that "steadily increasing prosperity" does not tranquilize citizens; on the contrary, it promotes "a spirit of unrest".

Is the development of a multi-party political system, the answer that Singapore needs in managing the stress of modernisation and in lowering the risk of social unrest?

"Where were the Farid Khans and the Salleh Maricans? Why didn't they come?... Because they knew that in an open election - all things being equal - a non-Chinese candidate would have no chance."
Having contested an election as a minority candidate, I am disturbed enough by his comments to write this note. Let me explain why.

Simple answer for PM Lee

I declined invitations to contest the 2011 General Election. This was because I was at a different stage of my life. My children were much younger, I had just come back from the USA a few years before and had to re-establish my career here. I did not know if I had the temperament for public life. These were just some of the reasons why I chose to decline those invitations.

Even in 2011, the pool of people who could qualify for the Presidential race was small.…

The Ministry of Communication and Information (MCI) has taken out a Facebook ad titled, 'Get real about fake news', The ad is taken out after the PAP-controlled Parliament passed the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation (POFMA) Bill, with all opposition Members of Parliament voting against the Bill.

The ad draws attention to the viral hoax that Punggol Waterway Terraces had collapsed. The ad said "the hoax triggered anxiety amongst the residents", and urged Singaporeans to "say no to fake news".

It is unfortunate that a website published such an unverified report, and it is certainly unacceptable that it caused much anxiety to the residents of the development (and to all Singaporeans). The publishers and the editors of the website acted irresponsibly in posting the report of the 'collapse' without proper verification, and no one should make any excuses for them for this.

Lamenting the lack of concentration of brilliance in Singapore, PM Lee Hsien Loong in a IPS dialogue held recently said that he believed in having a certain natural aristocracy in the system (a form of elitism where people are respected because they have earned that) for without that society will lose out. (Transcript of Speech here: http://bit.ly/1JOtiYP)

His views are of course not new and he had articulated them in another Speech in the year 2007, expressing why he believed that Singapore does not have enough talent for two A-Teams (link: http://bit.ly/1NFyA9s).

I am not sure if this view is healthy for Singapore. Why I say that? Let me quote a few persons and articles before I make my point.